Little Does Not Equal Weak
by Martial Arts Master
Summary: A short story. Metabee takes pity on a little boy and his Medabot who are having problems and trains the boy's Medabot.


Little Does Not Equal Weak  
  
by Martial Arts Master  
  
Medabots and all related characters copyrighted by Nelvana and the Japanese creators. I made up Haru and his Medabot Teddyrabbit, though, as well as Leiko and her Medabot Laserrenard. This is just a short story, not a series. Also, this takes place during the new Medabot season that's currently airing on ABC Family. So Metabee will have his new parts in this, as well as the ability to change into Action Mode (the car mode). Now, on with the story!  
  
***  
  
Ikki and Metabee were feeling pretty proud of themselves. After Ms. Nae had fixed Metabee's new parts, they had defeated Kam and his tank Kilobot.  
  
The Kilobots, in case you readers didn't see the new episode of Medabots that aired on September 13, 2003, or the new episode that aired on September 14, 2003, are a dangerous new breed of robots more powerful than Medabots.  
  
You see, Kilobots, unlike Medabots, do not have personalities. They work on medals, just like Medabots, but the personalities are extracted from the medals to make more room for pure power.  
  
Therefore, that makes Kilobots deadly opponents, for they will attempt to win at any cost.  
  
Ikki and Metabee learned about the Kilobots first when they met a bully named Ginkai, who was a kid like Ikki. Ginkai was a nasty Medafighter who never followed the rules of Robattling, such as not attacking before someone is ready for a Robattle or not changing parts in the middle of a battle.  
  
This was before Metabee got his new parts, and Ginkai's Kilobot, Desperado, easily defeated Metabee. However, once Metabee got his new parts and challenged Ginkai and Desperado to a rematch (Ginkai, by the way, was bullying Erika.), and once Ikki obtained a Medawatch Advance from a junk dealer named Ms. Nae, Metabee was able to utilize the Action Mode, or car mode, sneak up behind Desperado, and defeat him.  
  
On their next adventure, Ikki and Metabee met Kam, Ginkai's boss. Kam was just a kid, like Ginkai, but he isn't as outwardly nasty, always speaking in a quiet tone of voice.  
  
Kam challenged Ikki and Metabee to a robattle, but Ikki and Metabee refused, since the new parts were damaged and Ms. Nae made Ikki and Metabee promise not to Robattle until they were fixed.  
  
So Kam used his tank Kilobot to destroy other kids' Medals, the souls of Medabots.  
  
Yes, you heard me right, Kam was so eager to have Ikki Robattle him that he actually goaded him by destroying the heart and souls of Medabots through their Medals.  
  
Eventually, Ikki and Metabee got Metabee's new parts back and trashed Kam's tank Kilobot.  
  
That, you see, is what they were so happy about.  
  
Now, back to the story...  
  
***  
  
Ikki and Metabee were walking on the sidewalk along a street, heading for an ice cream shop.  
  
"Man, I could sure use some ice cream," Ikki said to himself.  
  
"I hope they have watermelons!" Metabee responded.  
  
Ikki groaned.  
  
"Metabee, of course they're not going to have watermelons at an ice cream shop!" Ikki said.  
  
Metabee looked disappointed.  
  
"Man, I thought I could have some watermelons after that tough day of Robattling," Metabee complained. "Hey Ikki, do you think we could stop for some watermelons after you get your ice cream?"  
  
Ikki thought about it.  
  
"I _might_ have enough money left..." Ikki said thoughtfully.  
  
"Whoopee!!!" Metabee cheered.  
  
They looked around as they were walking, taking in the sights of nature and the city around them.  
  
Occasionally, they could hear birds chirping.  
  
Sometimes, they saw kids happily playing with their Medabots.  
  
The sight briefly reminded Ikki of a madman called Dr. Meta-Evil.  
  
Dr. Meta-Evil had known that in a civilization long-gone by, a race called the Medalorians were the rulers of the world. But because they were so obsessed with fighting, they eventually destroyed each other and had to seal their souls inside Medals so they could be reborn later.  
  
These Medals would later become "rare medals", the only medals that, when chosen to power Medabots, could summon the Medaforce.  
  
All the other medals were clones, so when they powered Medabots, those Medabots could not summon the Medaforce.  
  
What Dr. Meta-Evil wanted, after he insanely modified himself to become a Medabot, was for the Medabots to become the rulers of the world.  
  
After all, they had ruled the world once before, so why shouldn't they rule the world again?  
  
What Dr. Meta-Evil hadn't realized was that the Medabots didn't _want_ to rule the world anymore. After all, when they were Medalorians, it was their constant love of all-out war that caused their race to fall in the first place. Civilized Robattles were obviously better, and enabled the Medabots to work as one with their human partners without outright destroying each other.  
  
It took a climactic battle between a giant Metabee-powered Metabee replica and Dr. Meta-Evil's Medabot Babbyblu, but in the end, Dr. Meta-Evil was defeated.  
  
"Mission control to planet Ikki! Mission control to planet Ikki!" Metabee's voice broke in on Ikki's thoughts.  
  
"Huh?" Ikki shook his head to clear it. "Oh, sorry Metabee. I was just thinking of Dr. Meta-Evil."  
  
"Man, you must be insane to think of that creepazoid on such a nice day!" Metabee snapped. "Just forget it."  
  
That's when they noticed a little boy who couldn't have been more than 7 sitting all by himself on a sidewalk corner.  
  
The boy had brown hair, brown eyes, a light blue T-shirt, and dark blue shorts on. The look on his face was obviously one of sadness, as if he had suffered a little bit of trouble. Also, he was wearing a Medawatch.  
  
"Man, that looks like somebody forgot his birthday or something," Metabee commented. "I think maybe we should go and help."  
  
Ikki nodded, and he and Metabee walked over to the boy.  
  
"Hey kid, what's the matter?" Ikki asked.  
  
The boy looked up.  
  
"Oh...hi..." the kid said with a half-hearted wave.  
  
"You look down in the dumps," Metabee commented. "What's your name, anyway?"  
  
"Oh, my name's Haru," the boy replied. "According to the Baby Name Network website it's Japanese for 'born in the spring', and I was indeed born in the spring."  
  
"It's nice to meet you, Haru," Ikki replied politely. "My name is Ikki, and this is my Medabot Metabee."  
  
"Yo," Metabee said simply.  
  
"I notice you have a Medawatch," Ikki continued. What he said next he thought might cheer Haru up a bit. "Maybe you could show us your Medabot?"  
  
In answer, Haru spoke into his Medawatch.  
  
"Transport Teddyrabbit!" Haru called.  
  
A blue beam shot out of the Medawatch, and the energy eventually formed into a Medabot.  
  
The Medabot was only 1 foot tall, and it looked like a tan-colored cross between a teddy bear and a rabbit. How fitting that it was named Teddyrabbit. Its optic sensors looked like eyes, and there were even pupils painted on. The eyes and Teddyrabbit's figure in general were designed to give the Bambi effect, or the effect of being utterly adorable.  
  
**MEDABOT VITAL STATS**  
  
**TEDDYRABBIT**  
  
**Rabbit-Type**  
  
**Medafighter**: Haru  
  
**Specialty**: Hand-to-Hand Combat.  
  
"Awwwwww, that Medabot is so cuuuuuuuuuuute!" Erika's voice broke in.  
  
Ikki spun around in shock.  
  
"Erika, when did _you_ get here?!" he shouted.  
  
"Oh, just a second ago," Erika replied casually. Her Medabot, Brass, was right beside her.  
  
"Who are you two?" Haru asked.  
  
"My name's Erika," Erika replied.  
  
"And I am Brass, Erika's Medabot," Brass spoke up.  
  
"Well, my name is Haru," Haru introduced himself to Erika and Brass.  
  
"And my name is Teddyrabbit," Teddyrabbit spoke up for the first time.  
  
What a startling coincidence that Teddyrabbit's eyes gave the Bambi effect, because Teddyrabbit's voice sounded exactly like the young Bambi in the Disney movie.  
  
Privately Metabee thought to himself that it was rather disgusting that no expense seemed to have been spared to make Teddyrabbit as adorable as possible.  
  
But then again, Metabee was designed to be a macho Medabot, so he was rather biased.  
  
"It's not really like you to find things cute, Erika," Ikki commented.  
  
"What is that supposed to mean, Ikki?" Erika asked challengingly.  
  
"Well, you're usually a butch tomboy who would probably have been better off born a boy," Ikki answered insensitively.  
  
Erika then punched Ikki in the face repeatedly.  
  
"Take that back!!!" she shouted. "Girls can like whatever they want to! They shouldn't have to conform to the gender roles of society!"  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry! OW!" Ikki pleaded. "Just quit punching me in the face! OW!"  
  
Erika stopped punching Ikki in the face.  
  
Haru suddenly started laughing at the comedy of the situation. Teddyrabbit also started laughing.  
  
"Wow, the kid actually knows how to laugh! Laughter's better than a sad face any day," Metabee said.  
  
That caused Erika and Brass to take notice.  
  
"What was this about a sad face?" Brass asked.  
  
"Well, Haru was really depressed about something earlier," Ikki replied. "Say Haru, what was the matter, anyway?"  
  
"It's my sister, Leiko," Haru answered, depressed again. "According to the Baby Name Network website it's Japanese for 'arrogant'. That pretty much describes my sister." "What do you mean?" Ikki asked.  
  
"Leiko is 17 years old, and is mean and conceited," Teddyrabbit suddenly spoke up. "She's been like that ever my Medafighter Haru was born. She thinks Haru sucks up too much attention, so she generally treats him like dirt. Sometimes she deliberately attacks Haru with her Medabot, and I have to protect him. I usually can do it, but I always end up with my medal ejected."  
  
Now Metabee was beginning to get angry.  
  
"That's low, attacking a human with a Medabot! And her own brother! Oooh, just wait 'til I get my hands on her!" Metabee shouted.  
  
"Wait a second, Metabee, we really should hear Leiko's side first," Brass cautioned.  
  
Suddenly Haru realized something!  
  
"Oh shoot! I'm supposed to help Leiko practice her lines for her school play!" he screamed. "I should've been home hours ago, but I totally spaced it out! She's gonna be so mad at me!"  
  
Without another word, Haru and Teddyrabbit sprinted for home.  
  
"Let's follow them," Ikki told the others. "We'll find out what's going on."  
  
***  
  
Pretty soon, Haru arrived at his house and went inside.  
  
Curious to see what would happen next, our heroes eavesdropped by looking in through the window.  
  
A 17-year-old girl was waiting for Haru. She looked like the spitting image of Haru, which wasn't surprising.  
  
"Where the heck were you you little twerp? I had to memorize my lines all by myself!" the girl screamed.  
  
This, obviously, was Leiko.  
  
"I'm really sorry," Haru replied meekly, bowing. "It won't happen again."  
  
"I'll see that it doesn't," Leiko snapped nastily. "Laserrenard! Attack!"  
  
Another Medabot besides Teddyrabbit jumped down from a rafter.  
  
This Medabot looked like a cross between a fox and a human. He was yellow-colored, wearing grey armor. His hands resembled human hands, only grey.  
  
**MEDABOT VITAL STATS**  
  
**LASERRENARD**  
  
**Fox-Type**  
  
**Medafighter**: Leiko  
  
**Specialty**: Hand Lasers.  
  
"I think I've heard the "renard" part of Laserrenard's name before," Erika mused.  
  
"That's because there's a famous French story about a fox named Renard," Brass replied.  
  
"That's where I've heard it!" Erika said, snapping her fingers. "Thanks, Brass."  
  
"Time for your punishment, boy," Laserrenard said in a crazed voice, laughing maniacally, not acting like the Renard in the French story at all.  
  
Then, although his hands were apparently empty, lasers came out of the palms, knocking Haru over.  
  
"Okay, that's it! We know Haru was telling the truth, so let's bust in there!" Metabee shouted. "Haru may have forgotten to help his sister, but that's no excuse to attack him! She's just a female dog, that's all!"  
  
Everyone had to hold Metabee back from breaking the window and jumping in.  
  
"I'd like to help too, but that would be trespassing," Ikki chided Metabee. "We could get arrested!"  
  
"Oh yeah?" Metabee challenged. "What about the time we busted into that Norbert guy's house because he was keeping Oceana's body locked in his collection?"  
  
"We _did_ risk getting arrested for trespassing that time; we were lucky he didn't notify the police," Ikki continued.  
  
Metabee grumbled to himself.  
  
Meanwhile, Teddyrabbit was rushing to Haru's defense, of course.  
  
"You leave him alone, Laserrenard!" Teddyrabbit shouted.  
  
"Always you try to protect him from his punishment, and always I get medieval on your behind," Laserrenard snapped. "When will you learn that your martial arts skills are no match for me?"  
  
With that, Laserrenard blasted Teddyrabbit repeatedly with his lasers, causing Teddyrabbit's medal to eject. Haru quickly caught the medal.  
  
"Well, punishing your Medabot was enough," Leiko said, laughing. "I'll tell you what, I'm so sure that Teddyrabbit is pathetic, if that pathetic Medabot ever actually beats my Laserrenard in an official Robattle, I'll never punish you like that again. But since that'll never happen, you have to get what you deserve every time, you attention-sucking little wart that does nothing but take attention away from me."  
  
With that, Leiko and Laserrenard left.  
  
"If Teddyrabbit can beat Laserrenard in a Robattle..." Metabee mused to himself. Then he snapped his fingers. "Hey, that's it!"  
  
***  
  
The next day...  
  
***  
  
Haru, Teddyrabbit, Ikki, Metabee, Erika, and Brass were standing in a clearing.  
  
"Let me get this straight," Haru said skeptically. "You, Metabee, plan to train my Teddyrabbit to the point that its hand-to-hand combat skills can actually beat Laserrenard?"  
  
"Uh-huh, that's right!" Metabee replied, nodding. "You're talking to a World Robattle Championship winner here. In fact, I've even single-handedly taken on a Babbyblu before and won! I'll help you beat Leiko and her stupid light-show fox. But you, Teddyrabbit, have to promise that you'll do everything I tell you to do."  
  
"Um...I p-p-promise..." Teddyrabbit stammered, wondering what was in store for him.  
  
***  
  
And so the training began.  
  
It was rather harsh training.  
  
First, Metabee had Teddyrabbit run laps around a gym track until _Metabee_ got tired of watching it.  
  
Then, Metabee had Teddyrabbit repeatedly lift barrels filled with oil near a warehouse.  
  
After that, Metabee had Teddyrabbit dig tunnels through sand at the beach, once again until _Metabee_ got tired of watching it.  
  
And so the same cycle continued, day after day after day after day after day after day after day.  
  
Through it all, Haru wondered if this training would be enough to make Teddyrabbit stronger.  
  
And then came the day when Metabee finally said, "Okay, Teddyrabbit, ready to have a practice match to see how much you've improved?"  
  
"Oh boy! Finally some fun! You bet I am!" Teddyrabbit exclaimed with glee.  
  
"But you're not fighting me," Metabee continued. He said arrogantly, "Because I'm simply unbeatable, and you don't wanna face an unbeatable opponent. Hey Brass, how about you Robattle this rookie for a while and see how much his training has improved?"  
  
Ikki, Erika, and Brass gasped in shock.  
  
"You want my _Brass_ to battle Teddyrabbit?" Erika asked. Then she laughed. "Fine, you're on!"  
  
***  
  
Since it was just a practice match, it wasn't very exciting, and in fact was actually rather boring, and thus does not merit description. What I will tell you is that, after the battle, both Teddyrabbit's and Brass's medals ejected from their bodies.  
  
"A tie! I can't believe it!" Ikki exclaimed. "Maybe Teddyrabbit really _is_ ready to take on Laserrenard!"  
  
"Oh really?" asked a familiar snotty female voice.  
  
That's when Leiko and Laserrenard showed up.  
  
"Fine, then let's Robattle, you little twerp," Leiko said to Haru. "That is, if you have the guts!"  
  
"I have the guts," Haru said evenly. "You seem to think little equals weak. Little does _not_ equal weak, and I'll prove it to you right after I fix Teddyrabbit's damage from that practice match."  
  
After this was done, Leiko snapped, "Okay, now that you've fixed your little Teddyrabbit, let's have our Robattle."  
  
It was at this moment that a garbage truck came by.  
  
Conveniently, sitting on top of the garbage truck was everyone's favorite and lovable referee, Mr. Referee!  
  
He jumped down from the moving garbage truck, landing on his feet.  
  
"Kids, don't try that at home!" he said to no one in particular.  
  
Everyone took a step back from Mr. Referee because, of course, he smelled like garbage.  
  
"As the cartoon character Freakazoid would say, you smell like poo gas!" Erika told Mr. Referee, hands over her nose.  
  
Mr. Referee ignored Erika's rude comment.  
  
"I declare this match a regular robattle, rather than a submission one! The loser of the match will be the Medabot whose medal is ejected, or who gives up, or whose Medafighter gives up, or whose head or torso is 100% damaged," Mr. Referee said. "Medafighters ready?"  
  
"I'm ready, and remember Leiko, you promised that if Teddyrabbit ever defeated Laserrenard, you'd never attack me with your Medabot again," Haru reminded Leiko.  
  
"I'm ready too," Leiko snapped, "and I always keep my word. But since that won't happen, prepare to lose!"  
  
"Well then...Medabots, Rooooooooooobattle!" Mr. Referee cried, bringing his hand down signalling that the Robattle was to begin.  
  
"Laserrenard, you know what to do!" Leiko shouted.  
  
"As you wish, Leiko! Mwahahahahaha!" Laserrenard laughed crazily.  
  
Laserrenard shot many lasers at Teddyrabbit.  
  
"Teddyrabbit, strafe to your right!" Haru shouted.  
  
"You got it!" Teddyrabbit replied.  
  
As the lasers came towards Teddyrabbit, Teddyrabbit ran to his right, dodging the lasers.  
  
Teddyrabbit was moving at an abnormally high speed, and he circled in around to Laserrenard's back.  
  
"Whoa, he's moving like lightning!" Metabee commented. "That's because of all the laps I made him run. It made him faster."  
  
Then, Teddyrabbit gave a karate chop to Laserrenard's legs.  
  
"Arrrrrrrgh!" Laserrenard screamed.  
  
"Warning: Legs 22% damage," Leiko's Medawatch said.  
  
"Come on, Laserrenard, turn around and blast that stupid furball!" Leiko shouted.  
  
"Medabots don't actually have fur," Ikki reminded Leiko.  
  
"Shut up, doofus," Leiko spat at Ikki.  
  
Laserrenard turned around and tried to blast Teddyrabbit, but Teddyrabbit ran backwards, dodging the shots.  
  
"Teddyrabbit, now go on the offensive!" Haru called.  
  
Teddyrabbit then raced at Laserrenard, hitting him with a flurry of punches and kicks...although there was some doubt as to whether the former could actually be called punches, since Teddyrabbit had robotic paws instead of hands for Medaparts.  
  
"Warning: Head 75% damage. Right Arm 21% damage. Left Arm 75% damage. Legs 46% damage," Leiko's Medawatch called out.  
  
"More of my training coming in handy," Metabee boasted. "I made him lift so many barrels that naturally Teddyrabbit's become stronger."  
  
"This isn't fair! Teddyrabbit is weak! Weeeeeeeeeeeak!" Leiko shouted. "That's it! Laserrenard, maximum power laser!"  
  
Laserrenard roared, and he thrust his hands out. The same multicolored energy as all those other times gathered in his palms, but this time it was a _lot_ bigger.  
  
"MAXIMUM POWER LASER!" Laserrenard shouted as he blasted Teddyrabbit with a _humongous_ laser beam.  
  
"Oh no!" Haru cried.  
  
"Warning: Head, 80% damage. Right Arm 73% damage. Left Arm 24% damage. Legs 62% damage." Haru's Medawatch called out.  
  
"Wow, Teddyrabbit's still standing!" Erika commented.  
  
"All thanks to me," Metabee boasted. "I had him dig so many tunnels that his endurance went up."  
  
"Metabee, you really need to get your ego checked," Ikki scolded Metabee.  
  
"Oh, like you never have ego problems, Mr. World Champion?" Metabee snapped.  
  
Meanwhile, Teddyrabbit rushed at Laserrenard and gave him one good punch to the chest.  
  
Believe it or not, this caused Laserrenard's medal to pop out, with Leiko catching it.  
  
"Function ceased! The winner is Teddyrabbit and Haru!" Mr. Referee said, pointing to Haru.  
  
Leiko sank to her knees in despair.  
  
"No...I lost to a weakling..." she mumbled to herself. "I lost to a small Medabot..."  
  
"You still haven't figured it out, have you Leiko?" Metabee asked rhetorically, walking over to Leiko. "You think size is everything. You judge Medabots by size. Well I'll have you know that I once defeated a Robo-Emperor with the Medaforce. And this wasn't the kind they sold in stores. This was the _prototype_ model, the one that was too powerful to be widely released. And besides which, you've been treating Haru like dirt because you think he gains too much attention from your family. Have you ever tried getting along with him? Have you two tried becoming friends? Maybe that would work to your mutual benefits."  
  
Leiko shook her head.  
  
"No, but thank you for teaching me this lesson," Leiko told Metabee. "I didn't judge Medabots by size, you know. I insulted Teddyrabbit mostly because I didn't like Haru. I'll keep my promise and treat Haru better. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot."  
  
With that, Leiko took Haru by the hand and left.  
  
Afterwards, Metabee told Ikki, "Well, at least Teddyrabbit responded to my training better than Krosserdog did when he was still Cyandog."  
  
"Yeah, but Cyandog had an incompatible medal," Ikki reminded Metabee.  
  
"Oh yeah," Metabee responded, as our heroes watched the sun set...  
  
***  
  
The End  
  
***  
  
E-mail all questions and comments to bleifer@comcast.net. 


End file.
